BLOOMINGTON – IU entered Joey Brunk’s recruitment as a graduate transfer almost from the moment it began, and the Hoosiers stayed active with the former Indiana All-Star through to his commitment last week.

Now, Brunk will spend the coming months preparing to return the Hoosiers’ investment with his own, strengthening his game before beginning his IU career later this summer.

What kind of player is coach Archie Miller getting? And where will Brunk’s own game continue to grow as he approaches his redshirt junior season of college?

“He’s a back to the basket player,” said Kyle Simpson, who coached Brunk at Southport. “He can catch in the post. He’s got good hands. He can pass the ball out of the post. Some people don’t realize that, he’s a good passer. He’s got good footwork, a nice soft touch, but he can also, too, step out and shoot the midrange if he needs to. He’s got a little range to his game.

Joey Brunk will have two years of eligibility at IU after his transfer from Butler.(Photo: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)

“It’s going to give them another option offensively inside, and give them a little more of a presence inside, along with De’Ron (Davis).”

Brunk’s transfer comes with a helpful caveat — as a redshirt junior, he’ll have two seasons of eligibility left, not just one. That means two years in Miller’s system, similar to Nick Zeisloft, who played for IU from 2014-16.

Brunk comes to Indiana on the back of the best season of his career to date. He became a borderline elite finisher around the basket, improved his assist and efficiency numbers, and drew more fouls per 40 minutes while committing fewer.

Now, he’ll join a program that must replace outgoing all-conference forward Juwan Morgan — and one that spent crucial portions of last season starved for post depth behind him, when Davis and Race Thompson were out injured.

Indiana will hope Brunk can build on his breakthrough sophomore season, which came on the back of a crucial summer Simpson said helped push Brunk’s game to a new level.

“I think that he got his body right, he spent time working in the weight room, he slimmed down,” Simpson said. “There were just so many things he got going well for him that he felt really good going into this past season.”

Miller and his staff made Brunk a priority from the earliest days of his recruitment, after he announced his intention to transfer.

The Hoosiers visited Brunk first, and then hosted him in Bloomington days later. Miller’s pitch to Brunk strengthened Indiana’s appeal.

“Archie and his staff did an amazing job recruiting Joey. They painted a really clear picture to him of how they were going to utilize him,” Simpson said. “Everything they showed on video to Joey made sense, from the standpoint of how they used Juwan in transition running the floor as a five man, him picking and rolling, using screens to get posted up, things like that. Basic post play, it all made sense.”

Brunk will finish his current semester at Butler and graduate. It’s not clear yet precisely when he’ll report to IU, but the Hoosiers typically gather for summer workouts and conditioning in mid-June.

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In the meantime, Brunk is working out with a future teammate, Trayce Jackson-Davis, with whom he shares a trainer. He’s focused on expanding his offensive game ahead of next season, and rediscovering some of the 3-point range he developed late in his high school career.

“The one thing he’s working on right now is, he’s trying to expand a little bit, the 15-foot, out, being able to step out and shoot the 3-point shot,” Simpson said. “People say, ‘Oh great, you’ve got a 6-10, 6-11 guy stepping out and shooting 3s.’ He can step out and shoot the basketball. I’m not saying that’s going to be the key component of what he’s bringing to Indiana. He’s still going to be a presence in the low post. But he’s also trying to expand his game to where he can step out.”